Warriors of Light
by DerFluffy
Summary: Follow a team of Guardians into the darkest ketch in existence. Would love reviews!
1. Chapter 1

Lakshmi-2 looked at the pair of Hunters before her. The two of them were quickly becoming some of her most useful tools against the Darkness. It was rare to find a warrior who could be so amiable around allies and still be so deadly to their enemies. It was even more rare for that warrior to find another like them, but Peter and Trishka had done it. They had met on the battlefield and had become inseparable. They had chosen to serve her faction and Lakshmi-2 intended to give them tasks worthy of their skills.

"You have both accomplished great things on your own and in the name of the Future War Cult. That said, I feel this assignment will be a challenge even for you," Lakshmi-2 said seriously. Peter's red Exo eyes shone with piqued curiosity, glowing in stark contrast with his alabaster skin.

"We're listening," he said.

"Good. Because this is going to sound crazy," replied the leader of the War Cult. "There is a ketch on Earth that has been behaving suspiciously. It's no longer following standard Fallen tactics. We have reason to believe it may have been taken over by an unknown enemy. I'm assigning you two to investigate these claims. If they are true, you are to find out how the ship was taken. If not, purge the ship of whatever you _do _find. Either way, you will complete this mission by destroying the ketch."

The Hunters stood in silence, awed by the magnitude of the duty given them. Trishka spoke first.

"How are we going to bring it down?" she asked.

"_Even with this mad quest, they don't even flinch. Merely accept and adapt_," Lakshmi-2 thought. That's exactly why she loved these two.

"There are several ways. Personally, I would recommend destroying the main engine. I would advise being as far away as possible when it goes critical though," she said.

"What about collateral damage?" Peter asked.

"Don't worry about that. If you succeed, the ends will justify the means," Lakshmi-2 told them. Peter and Trishka exchanged a mad smile, eager to enact such chaos with no repercussions.

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as you put these coordinates in your ship," she answered, holding out a document with numbers scrawled on it. Peter's Ghost appeared and quickly scanned it.

"Go it," it rang out in a monotone voice.

"Then let's get going!" Trishka urged. The Hunters walked down the stairs to the main hangar. Lakshmi-2 turned to watch them out the great window. The two never ceased to amaze her. And in a way, frighten her.

* * *

"How do you think the boss knows about insane stuff like this?" Peter's voice crackled out of the radio on Trishka's ship.

"Not a clue. And honestly, not really sure I want to," she said, routinely checking her gear. The tassels hanging from her Gravebreaker chest piece had long since been burned away in battle. She could've easily had them repaired, but she liked the character they gave her armor. Her helmet pulsed gently on the shelf it sat on. She smiled when she looked at it, never failing to be amused by how much it bothered Peter. The weapons rack next to the shelves looked like it was about to collapse due to the sheer amount of firepower hanging on it.

"I have a feeling it has something to do with that Eris woman. I still don't like her," Peter speculated. Trishka could imagine him perfectly, feet propped on the ship's dash, twirling his Last Word like he always did before a mission. She could still feel his excitement from when the mysterious vendor, Xûr, appeared with the weapon.

"You Exo's are always so suspicious," she teased.

"Comes with knowing next to nothing about your kind. Besides, it's not like humans are much better," he retorted.

Trishka shrugged and brushed her ash blonde hair out of her face.

"We're almost there," her Ghost informed them.

"Alright then. Let's sink a ketch," Peter said, his excitement palpable in his voice. She heard him holster his weapon. Trishka took a deep breath to ready herself and pulled on her armor.


	2. Chapter 2

The duo decided to drop into the Mothyards to cut down on time spent getting to the Forgotten Shore, where the ketch had last been sighted. Their ships dropped them off on top of the hill leading to the Skywatch. Peter pulled his LDR-5001 off his back , knelt, and looked down the sights at a pair of Fallen vandals looking out over the Mothyards. Trishka fought the urge to laugh at the sight of him closing one eye and still having two open. The Mask of the Third man had that effect on her.

"So how are we planning to get on board?" she asked, kneeling down beside him.

"Since when do we ever plan ahead?" Peter asked out of a crooked smile. He squeezed the trigger and let off a single bullet. A fraction of a second later, the two vandal's heads exploded simultaneously thanks to the iridium-core rounds. As the bodies fell, a fiery bloom erupted, accompanied by the usual fine white spray. Peter let out the breath he'd been holding in and heard the empty case _tink _on the broken concrete. He waited patiently and watched as a captain slowly crept into view. The captain knelt to inspect its fallen soldiers and snapped its head up when it saw the glint of sunlight on metal. Before it could react, the high-caliber sniper round struck it in between the first set of eyes and vaporized the captain's mask in another bloom of flame. Unlike the vandals, there was a sickly green spray that spouted from the body, which quickly snuffed out the flame. Both Peter and Trishka inhaled sharply when the captain refused to fall. The headless body staggered slowly towards the two hunters, still spouting the green spray and emitting an otherworldly howl unlike anything they'd ever heard. After a few uncertain steps, the spray dissipated away and the corpse dropped to the ground in a heap.

Peter looked up from his scope to see Trishka standing frozen, her weapon slack at her side. That worried him far more than the shrieking captain. Not once since he'd met her had he seen Trishka balk before. She was always among the first into a fight.

"You okay?" he asked tentatively. She shook her head as if to wake from a daze.

"Yea…that's just…I've never seen anything like that," she said quietly.

"_I've suddenly got a bad feeling about this job_," Peter mumbled as he reloaded his sniper.

"Let's just keep going," Trishka urged. Peter nodded and they summoned their Sparrows and took off down the hill. They wove down the switchback trail and flew through the canyons that led to the Forgotten Shore. The wind whipped by as they raced across both ground and river, leaving plumes of dust and spray in their wake. After a short time, the canyon walls opened and the Forgotten Shore came into view. The hunters slowed their Sparrows and dismounted. The air was completely still and had a malicious feel to it. Peter and Trishka both pulled out their snipers and surveyed the area. The longer they looked, the more they felt something was amiss. There was not a single minion of Darkness to be seen. Trishka lowered her Patience and Time and became visible again.

"Something is very, very wrong here," she said. Her stomach was twisting itself into knots of fear. Peter nodded and called up his Ghost.

"Ghost, can you contact Lakshmi-2?" he requested.

"Of course," it answered.

"Who could we call?" Trishka mused, more to herself than anyone. Before Peter could answer, Lakshmi-2's voice cut through the still air.

"What's happened?" she demanded.

"Something isn't right, ma'am," Peter informed her. "There isn't a single Fallen here, but the entire area is covered in a special darkness.

Lakshmi-2 was silent for a moment. "Do you require assistance?"

"I certainly wouldn't refuse it," he answered.

"I'll leave it to your discretion then," she granted. "But this mission is to stay secret, so only contact those you know you can trust. I'll gather what intel I can for you here."

"Thank you, ma'am," Peter said and closed the link. Both he and Trishka breathed a heavy sigh of relief and set to inviting their allies.

* * *

Lakshmi-2 walked briskly towards the bustling Tower Watch, a heavy pit sitting in her stomach. Her warriors had never requested aid before. The fact they felt they needed help scared her more than she cared to admit. She reached the main courtyard and continued moving relentlessly across it. Guardians from all paths gathered here to form parties to combat the Darkness, and no matter how advanced they were, they all moved aside to let her through. She reached her destination in front of the long thought lost Eris Morn. Lakshmi-2 approached the Warlock with fire in her eyes and venom in her voice.

"Where the hell did you just send my Hunters?"


	3. Chapter 3

Peter and Trishka stalked their way towards the storage towers atop the Forgotten Shore. They had contacted two other Guardians they knew they could trust and were moving to establish a safe landing zone for them. Despite the dark malice still thick in the air, they both felt relieved knowing help was on the way. Still they walked in silence, Last Words and Badger CCL at the ready, respectively. They reached the top of the hill without even a blade of grass moving. The air was still and dead. Trishka jumped up the towers first, while Peter kept watch. When she reached the top moments later, she took out Patience and Time and took watch while Peter blinked his way up. Together they looked out over the Forgotten Shore and were once again unsettled by how still it was. From the rusted, split-open ships, to the path leading up to the Skywatch, not a single sign of life stirred.

"How long until they get here?" Trishka whispered. Not that there was anyone around to hear them.

Peter glanced at the timers he had set on his HUD.

"Ruble will be here first, since he was already planetside. Bomber is coming from Mars so he'll be a while."

Trishka nodded and looked and vanished from sight as she looked through her scope.

"Get down!" she ordered and Peter instinctively blinked down to the next level of the towers. A salvo of wire rifle fire ripped through the air where his head had been moments before.

"Sonovabitch!" he cried, sliding behind cover. He warily stuck his head around the wall to try and see where the shots had come from.

On the path leading to the Skywatch, the air had three areas where it shimmered like a mirage. As soon as Peter saw them, another wave of blue began charging. Ducking behind the wall and putting his back to it, he waited for his own stealth to activate. The crumbling concrete shuddered as another salvo tore into the wall. Before he had a chance to stealth, the ground beneath Peter gave out and fell through to the ground level below. While he blinked off the failing surface, Trishka let off a series of shots that struck the stealth vandals in their chests, tearing gaping holes in them. She swore under her breath as she watched more green spray burst from the bullet wounds. A sudden wind brought them a gut-wrenching stench and the anguished cries of the mortally wounded Fallen. While Trishka continued searching for the other vandals, Peter looked down to find what had caused the floor to collapse. Through the rubble and rebar, he saw a handful of dregs scurrying about. Annoyed that they had played right into the ambush, Peter felt no remorse as he pulled out his blade and charged it with arc lightning. He blinked down to the ground and savored the looks of terror from the dregs. Something bothered Peter about these particular dregs, however. They were far bulkier than their kind normally was, but they didn't even seem aware that their size rivaled most Titans. They tried to move as nimbly as they normally would, only to clumsily fall over their own brawn. Another round of shots from above. Peter contemplated all of this as he flitted around the room, cleaving dreg after dreg with his blade. He wasn't prepared for how loud their chorus of pain would be at so close a range, nor for how much spray would gush from the knife wounds. Not wanting to even touch the stuff before they knew what it was, Peter adjusted his attacks so he progressed through the room and never went back into the green clinging to the air. With the last of his energy, he flitted out the back of the complex. He heard Trishka let off a final two rounds, more screeches from the vandals, and the Shore once again fell silent. Peter looked out over the lake that stretched on before them and wondered where one could ever _hide_ a ketch. He heard a whoosh in the air above him as Trishka dropped down beside him, noticeably shaken from the firefight. She walked out to one of the concrete piers that stood high above the ground and sat down, her legs hanging over the edge. Peter walked out beside her and stood watching the amber sun lower over the lake.

"How did we let ourselves fall into a trap like that?" she asked. "It's like we're losing our to-"

She was cut off by a screech like steel on slate as a colossal green and black ethereal portal ripped open the sky high above the lake. From the blackness inside, the golden bow of a ketch emerged. Covering their ears to try and block out the screeching, the Hunters watched in awestruck terror as the entire ship emerged from the portal. As soon as the stern had cleared the portal, the gateway snapped shut and the ketch began to pitch forward, diving bow first towards the lake. Trishka realized what would happen when the ship made impact and immediately slipped off the edge, but not before grabbing Peter's ankle and dragging him down with her.

While they tumbled through the air, Trishka summoned her Sparrow and felt Peter's arms lock around her waist. The instant they hit the ground, she hit the throttle and they began racing across the Forgotten Shore, heading for the path leading to the Skywatch. Rusted ship hulls and spinmetal shrubs whizzed by in a blur. The roar of the wind was rapidly being drowned out by the groaning of millions of tons of tons of metal succumbing to gravity. As they flew across the ground, Trishka began having to dodge Fallen that seemed to materialize out of the dirt. Strangely, they didn't seem to have any interest in the Hunters. Captains, vandals, dregs, and shanks alike all stood hypnotized by the crippled ketch.

"Hold on!" Trishka shouted over the screaming metal. She aimed the struggling Sparrow for a ramp that would launch them between two halves of a long-since rusted ship. Peter's elbows dug into her sides as he obeyed.

They hit the ramp as fast as the Sparrow could carry them. The moment the front of the craft was airborne, Trishka released the stabilizers and shifted their weight to send them into a clockwise spin. They miraculously landed with an _oomph _and raced towards the hill with renewed power. At that moment, Peter looked back to see another Sparrow flying _towards_ the failing ketch! Peter recognized the Warlock Ruble they had called and immediately began calculating how to alert him to the danger, now that the ketch was mostly hidden behind the towers.

_ Shout. Can't hear us. Signal. Can't see us. That leaves… _

Peter held onto the straining Sparrow with all the strength in his legs he could muster and leaned back, pulling out his sniper as he did so. He had one shot. He had to make it count. Looking down the sights, he focused on the front of Ruble's Sparrow. He'd pay for the damages later. Held his breath. And pulled the trigger just as Trishka braked hard to better direct the Sparrow up the hill.

The bullet missed its mark. But still managed to hit the Sparrow. While he had intended to merely glance the front of the craft to alert the Warlock to follow them, the misguided bullet hit a stabilizing fin at the rear of the Sparrow and actually spun it so Ruble was following them up to the Skywatch! The earth beneath them shook with the magnitude of the impact in the lake as the Hunters reached the base of the Skywatch. They dismounted and turned back to see Ruble race up, obviously shaken and confused, but unharmed. Behind him however, came a wave that blocked out the setting sun behind it. Completely washing over the storage towers, the gargantuan wave crashed down on the Forgotten Shore, completely annihilating everything in its wake and wiping it from memory once more.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter sat down and splayed out on the concrete path. The hood of his Future War Cult cloak he received from Lakshmi-2 fell back and pooled beneath his head. He could still feel his heart pounding under his armor from their watery ordeal.

"Why is it when something happens, it's always happening to you two?" Ruble asked exasperatedly, his arms folded across his chest.

"We're just always where the fun is," Trishka remarked. Peter chuckled quietly at that. Ruble simply grunted and looked out over the Forgotten Shore, watching the waves slosh over the hills and through the broken ships. The ketch loomed out on the lake at an awkward angle, since its bow was buried in the lakebed. With a screech, the metal of the ship tore away and the bow ripped free of the rest of the ship, leaving it to level out in the water with a _splash_. The new waves pushed out across the Shore and pulled back to slightly higher than the lake's normal levels.

"So, how are we getting on?" Trishka mused.

"On? On that?!" Ruble pointed to the crippled ketch. Despite the blank slate of his Obsidian Mind, Peter could imagine the Awoken's eyebrows so high they were hidden under his long, indigo hair. "Even you Hunters have to be able to feel the Darkness here."

Peter sat up at that and nodded. "Are you saying it's coming from that ketch?" he asked. Ruble nodded and folded his arms again, bringing a fist to his mouth.

"The only time I've ever felt anything like this was at-" Ruble started.

"The Hellmouth," both Hunters finished for him. Peter flopped back down on the concrete. "Perfect."

"I guess we'll have to swim out there now," Trishka sighed. "I feel like I only just dried out from going through those springs on Venus."

"Not much choice at this point," Ruble said as Peter got to his feet. "Might as well get moving."

Peter thought he heard Ruble mumble something about crazy Hunters and their damn suicide missions, but he knew they could still count on him. The warlock was as trustworthy as the void he controlled was dangerous. The group summoned their Sparrows and rode out over the now marshy Forgotten Shore, kicking up a cold spray as they went. Fallen corpses lay floating in pools of water that hadn't drained yet. The Guardians rod around the hill topped with the storage towers that groaned in the wind and as far out into the shallows as their Sparrows could take them. At that point, they dismounted into the frigid waters. Trishka was never quite sure how the water never froze when it was cold enough for snow to litter the ground wherever she walked. The Guardians braced themselves and plunged into the deeper waters, making for the ketch as quickly as they could.

* * *

Within minutes, they had made it to the Fallen ship. The Guardians crawled onto the open platform that led to the ship's cargo bay. Crates were half submerged in the waist-high water that covered the platform and the support columns that attached the platform to the main body of the ship groaned under the ship's beached weight.

"I'm disappointed with their hospitality," Trishka snarked. "Not so much as a welcoming committee." Peter hung his head.

As Ruble opened his mouth to chastise her for jinxing them, the door to the cargo bay began rising and the same green mist rolled out in a wave over the standing water. From inside the bay came an unholy roar that shook the Guardians to their cores. They all took cover behind the half-submerged crates and trained their weapons on the rising door. The mist swirled under the door in places where dregs with Shock Daggers clawed their way out with an animalistic frenzy. The Fallen grunts locked on the Guardians, threw their heads back with an ear-rending screech, and charged with green fire in their many eyes. Gunfire erupted on the platform and the first wave fell riddled with holes. By that time, the door had fully opened and what they saw inside made the Guardian's blood run cold.

Inside the bay lay the corpse of a massive Hive ogre on its back. Dregs and thrall alike wormed their way through the body like maggots. Above the platform overlooking the room, hung a Wizard floating next to a Fallen Captain. The Wizard gestured towards the Guardians and both Ruble and the Captain cried out, one in pain and the other in rage. The Warlock dropped his weapon and clutched his head, dropping to his knees and barely keeping his head above water. The water around him began to boil and froth furiously.

"Trishka?!" Peter called out worriedly.

"On it!" she shouted.

Peter slung around his Against All Odds, feeling its name was especially appropriate at the moment, and began unloading the slow, powerful rounds into the Wizard. Its glowing orange shield disappeared just in time for Peter to begin firing at the horde of Fallen and Hive advancing on his fireteam. Beside him, he heard Trishka vanish from sight and Patience and Time ring out as she emptied as man rounds as she could into the Wizard. Ruble's screams fell silent and the Warlock slumped against a crate. The Wizard, seeming amused and unaffected by the sniper fire, turned and flew through the open door behind it, which then squealed shut.

Peter yanked his knife free of the Captain's head he had buried it in. "Ghost, check Ruble," he said sternly.

"You got it," the little light replied. It began scanning the still Warlock while the Hunters cut down the remaining enemies.

"Uh…this is bad," the Ghost said. "Whatever that Wizard did to him, it's draining his light."

"We need to get him help then," Trishka worried aloud.

"We can't leave now though. Not now that we know how dangerous this damn thing is," Peter argued, stamping his foot down in the water.

While they desperately tried to think of a plan to save their friend, a voice crackled over their radios. "Sounds like you two could use a hand."

"Bomber!" they both cried out in shock and relief.

"In the flesh. I'll be there in less than a minute," the Exo said.

Before Peter could reply, the ketch rumbled to life. The platform under their feet shook and they could hear the colossal engines igniting.

"Uh, we may not have that long," Peter said. "Looks like the ketch is powering up."

"Wait, are you _on_ the damn thing?" Bomber's joking demeanor changed instantly. "What section?"

"Cargo bay."

Bomber was silent for a few seconds. "Get everyone inside and get on the door controls."

Peter grabbed Ruble under the arms and dragged him through the water into the cargo bay while Trishka and her Ghost went to find the control panel.

"What exactly are you planning on doing?" she asked warily.

"Something that will likely kill me. But hey, maybe I can get Lakshmi-2 to pay for repairs in exchange for saving you two," Bomber joked grimly.

Peter and Trishka looked at each other at the mention of repairs, it quickly dawning on them what the Defender was planning.

The ketch's engines roared and a warning alarm began sounding due to the open bay door. The colossal ship pulled itself free from the lakebed and began to move. It was banking hard to the right to face out over the waters of the Forgotten Shore. In the distance was a colorful shape rapidly growing closer as the two ships moved towards each other.

"Get to the sides, get down, and hold on!" Bomber shouted.

The front of his ship became enveloped in an orb of violet void light as the Ether Eater screamed into the hangar. The cables attached to the platform sheared off the side engines of the ship, also snapping the cables. The platform began to sag and bend under its own weight, eventually wrenching free of the ship with a squeal of twisted metal.

The body of the ship shot into the cargo bay like a purple tipped bullet, carving the ogre corpse in two. The impact of the crash resonated throughout the entire ship.

"Trish, the door!" Peter yelled over the blaring alarm.

She punched in the commands to close the door and waited for the giant door to drop. As it slowly came down, another black and green ethereal portal screeched open in front of the ketch, and began sucking things out of the hold as the ship flew towards it. Dregs and thrall slid limply across the bay floor as they were pulled into the ether. Peter grabbed Ruble and braced his back against a pillar. What was left of Bomber's crippled ship began to scrape backwards between the ogre halves and out the open door.

Trishka jumped down onto the ship and used her knife to pry away enough of the cockpit wreckage to pull Bomber out. She finally managed to undo his harness and pull him free only moments before the last of the unsecured crates, the ship, and the ogre were pulled out the door. The bay door fell the last few feet with a _crash_, but not before the Guardians had a chance to see the Darkness beyond.


End file.
